Connector for electrical conductors.



T.F.. LEAHEY.

CONNECTOR FOR ELECTRIC'ALCONDUCTORS. 'APPLICATION man 0m11.191s..-

' l. .34 By 34 35 35 ,ZSMMWW THOMAS F. LEAHEY, or PoUGHKEnPsrE, NEW YORK.

CONNECTOR non ELECTRICAL ConDUCToI-ts..

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented sept'. 5,1915.

Application `tiled October 11, 1915. `Seria1IvTo.`55,179.

vto be a fulL-clear, andeXact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art toewhich it appertains'to make and use the same.

This invention relates to connectors for electrical conductors and more particularly to that class of connectors used inline con struction for connecting the Wires of the line in a continuvus circuit.

One object ofmy invention is to provide a connector in Which the assemblingfof the connector in the line eifects'a direct 'electril cal and physical connection betweenv "the wires themselves Without the `interposition of any part of the connector in 'thejc'ir'cit A further object lof the invention 'is to'prol or similar1nsulatingjmaterialv andrv ,eachl comprise4 flattened outer portion having a sub-` v.' de a connector of this classivhichl may "b'e made throughout loftiber orotherinsu'lating material and Whichis designed to beof such light Weight as to of the stretch of the Aivirecontain'ing the con- W1res'"fitting snugly inthefboresothat theyv nector and yet of suticient streng'tli'and rigidity to withstand all strains to which' it may be subjected in assemblingor Iaspart of the line.

A :Eurtherobject of my invention is totprovide a connector of this type in which the ends of the Wires are twisted together. by relative rotation of the parts of the connector Withoutfmutilating the Wires in anyway j aS by cutting or indentingor byy 'overstrainv ing in ivisting, and in which'the{Wires'are enough to7 provide'a chamber '1 1 toaccom-f mo'datef-the desired 'flengthz' of tlie` .ltwisted togetherl portion of' the j;Wires,i.,-preferably k p100 maintained in intimate electrical Contact throughoutthe entire I length of vtheir over# lapped portions,l thus reducing the resistance-j,l

' f 'three or fourturnsf of the connect-ion to. a minimum.

A further object ofthe invention 1s" to 'provide a connector"especiallydesigned'forl joining insulated Wires in such'manner that'vv v'end ofthe other Wire` thrust inu f ronntlie- 'opposite/direction to :give the desired Flap., The tvvoS parts arethen -screwed together,v the flattened portions providingagsuitable e the connector overlaps the 'covering ofthe Wires and of itself preserves thecontinuity of the insulation. therebyfobv'iatingthe usual' necessity of Winding or otherwise'in'sulating the'joint after the "connectionis made.`

Vith theab'ove objects i view, myinvention consists Ain the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in theac'compan'yv ing drawings, in which,

State of `New York, have produce no sagging Figure l is a longitudinal section through one lform of connector embodying my inven'm tion' Vshowing it assembled in the line after the :iconnectionvhas'been made. Fig. 2 isa longi'tudinalsection through the connector 's ,hoivn in Fig. 1, but at right angles thereto.

the plane of Fig.fl. Fig.5isa longitudinal section` through the connector shown iny Fig. 4 but at lright angles thereto,

use `with insulated Wires on ya planevcorrespondlng y toandrFig. 6 is a transverse section Aon line6..-6 of. Fig. 4.A

Fig. .7 is-a vsectional view of a -furtherinodi-v iication. Y 'Referring now` tothe drawings, and particularlyftoFigs. .1,2' andv3, theJnunierals 7 and 8 indicate "the two parts' of :the connec? tor Whose `relative rotation etlectsthe.tv vist'-I ingrogether L of thev overlapped ends. ofl the qtwo wires 14and15.

nectpr is'y 'preferablyl made of indurated fiber` Each part of the con? stafntially` elliptical bore; for receiving. the Wires i `in parallelism a e and' holding-v.. them against rotatie n'foneyaroundthe.,otherl the are-. frictionally held against longitudinal movement Vin i 'a limited relative rotationiwillffsecurely join the parts together. The circular. portion oi one of the .parts, 8 for example, is long In assembling the connecton,n the two "parts thereof with their jointunscrevved,

4areslipped .over the end of onejvire theA grip forthe lingers orwrenchesif thevvires are stift'. The relativerotation of thetWo-- 4parts `twists the Wires together as will be obvious; the resistance of the. wires Atomovement inthe 'bores 12 asthey` are drawn together by the twisting action producing a close twist even though the wires are soflex-L ible as to offer little resistance to coiling.

It will be observed that the connector is entirely treel throughoutiits length of shoul` ders or sharp corners of* any kind which might cut or indent the wires, the bores 12 being gradually enlarged into circular `cross of circular cross section at its threaded ends but 'is gradually reduced at its middle to provide an elliptical bore 19 corresponding in function with the bores 12 ofthe first described connector. The end portions 1K6 and 18 have their circular portions at theends threaded forA connection'to'the part 17, the chambers thus formed forreceiving the twisted wires being gradually reduced to elliptical crosssection for .holding the wires beyond' thetwisted portions. The design of this connector as shown^in thedrawings is -specially adapted for joining insulated wires, for which purpose the yends of the elliptical bores in the parts 16 and 18 are each. closedat one side toprevent projection of the* iee`end`s'of' the bare'. wires as indicated a't 20. Also the outer face of the con-l --nectorf'is cylindrical throughout and is threaded at each end asshown at 21"to receive. the sleeves 22 for iliclosing the ends of the f insulating covering 23 of the wires.l The shortening of the wires produced by the twisting will draw the v covering into the Isleeves insuring a proper insulation of the joint.F "i

In Fig. '-7 I have illustrated an adaptation of^my invention to flexible connectors em-y bodying a hinged joint,V In this connector the two`parts A30, 31 which are hinged toi' gether on the bolt or rivet 32 are necessarily made of metal, as theyfmust`carry the curf rent through the joint. 'I preferablyformthese parts of annealed tubing which is circular at lits outer end and provided with an external thread 33. Immediately beyond the thread each tube section is attened into- ',an elliptical, formt to receive the ends of the parallel wires 34, 35, each piece 35 being'y alshort length*y permanently fastened in the metal tube section-of the connector by braz-L.

ingor, otherwise.v Beyond the elliptical'fpor tion of the tubesection 31 the tube is comi' pletely attened to form the inner member.

at its narrower edges and suiiiciently flat- 'tened for its two sides to embrace the end 'of the section 31 forming therewith a hinged joint having large contact areas between the surfaces of the two parts thereby providing a good electric connection. The outer portions 36 of the two partsof the connector are preferably formed of insulating fiber and arev similar in every respect to the corresponding sections of the connector illustrated in'Fig. `1. In assembling the connector in the line, the line-wires 34: are thrust into the elliptical ends of the sections 36 while the joints between the sections are unscrewed Iand .into the flattened portions of the metal tube sections in parallelism with wires 35.. The joints are then screwed up and the connection formed just as in the .straight lineA connectors previously described.

In the above described construction the greaterv portion of the lconnector may be madeA weight of ythe connector and also leaving a much shorter portion to be` insulated by tape or otherwise in case the connector is used in an insulated line. In other respects this connector has lall the advantages of the straight line connector." A i i i I have shown the several parts of the conneetor as threaded together, but such threads are not altogether essential. The-parts may instead be'connectedby a joint of smooth bore to maintain the Ialinement for none of the strain of the line is bornev by the connector; The threads, if employed, may be of sufficient length to give the desired number of turns to the twist or may be of greater.

length, inwhich case the partsl will be par tially assembledV before the wires are thrust in.

While the invention has been shown and described in all its preferred details, it is of course to be understood that the invention ie net limited eeeueh deteneeXeept in ee fell as defined by the appended claims..

What I claim is: s

-1. A connector for electrical conductors comprising two tubular members each formed throughout of insulating material detachably connected for relative rotation, each of said members having a portion shaped to hold a corresponding length of both conductors in parallelism and against relative movement whereby relative .rotation of said members will 4cause said conductors to be twisted together. y j

2. A connector for electrical conductors comprising a `pair of tubular members each formed throughoutfof insulating material and' having. complementary parts maintaining said members in'l axial `alinement and permitting their relative rotation, each of said tubular members having a portion of its of fiber thereby greatly reducing the bore shapedto hold said conductors in parallelismv in intimate electrical whereby relative rotation of said members will cause said conductors. to be gether. v l

3.- A connector for electrical conductors, comprising a pair of tubular members having complementary parts maintaining said members in `Xial alinement'andA ermitting stantially elliptical to hold said conductors inparallelism in intimate electrical contact and against rotation one' around the other and one lof said members having itsbore enlarged intermediate the conductor gripping portions, whereby relative rotation of said members will cause twisted together in said enlarged portion.

4. A connector for electrical conductors comprising a pair of tubular -members threaded together in axialf'alinement, said members having their bores fat' their adjacent ends o f bores beyond reduced to substantiallyy other where y relative rotation of said memcontact and i A together insaid enlarged portion. against rotation one around the other, l'

5. A connector for insulated electrical con a .plurality of tubular y ductors comprising i l members of insulatlng material connected in' twisted to! each of sald tubular* free end of the conductor. A

said conductors to bel circular cross section with said I the circularl portions gradually* elliptical cross section adapted to hold said conductors in par-z bers will causesaid conductors to be vtwisted I' axial alinement for connectors -havlng an of their contmuous bore -of circularfcross relative rotation said'l intermediate portionsection and end portions of substantially 1 elliptical cross section to hold the conductors' in contact and ainst rotation one around the other, said aliptical bore having. onehalf thereof closed at each end .to

6. A connector for insulated electrical conductors comprising a plurality of' tubular members of insulating material connected in axialalinement for relative rotation, "said connectors having an intermediate portion 50 of their continuous bore of. circular cross section and end portions of substantially elliptical cross section to hold the conductors against rotation one around j in contact and the other, said members having`flan'ges eirtending axially of theirI outer endsfor rei cover the:

ceiving the ends of the kinsulated coverings of said conductors. l v

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature.y

THOMAS F. LEHEY.

Copies of thirpatent may be obtained for veents each, by addressing 'the0oinmiss1oner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. x 

